Blake Montgomery scored twice and added an assist and Auston Elliott stopped 36 shots in the first 65 minutes and two more in the shootout as the London Knights edged the Frontenacs 5-4 in a shootout in Kingston on Nov. 29.
The Knights have now won 17 consecutive games. Their franchise record is 24 wins and the OHL record is 25 straight victories.
London opened the scoring on a play that doesn’t happen every game.
Sam Dickinson raced into the Kingston zone on a breakaway and was stopped by Frontenacs goalie Mason Vaccari but the puck sat free right on the goal line and with a big swooping push from Montgomery it was knocked into the Kingston net for a 1-0 London lead.
The Frontenacs tied the game just under four minutes later as former Owen Sound Attack forward Cedrick Guindon took a pass in the slot and scored and the teams went to the second period even.
Sam O’Reilly put the Knights in front 2-1 at 5:40 of the second period as he cut to the Kingston net from the right side and roofed a shot past Vaccari before taking a huge hit at the left post that knocked the Oilers prospect to the ice. O’Reilly shook it off and celebrated his seventh goal of the season.
A wild third period saw the teams combine for five goals as Kingston first tied the game and then went ahead 3-2 as Tuomas Uronen and Gage Heyes cashed in less than three minutes apart.
Montgomery tied the game with his second of the night and third in two games just 22 seconds later as he converted a pretty three-way passing play from Landon Sim and Jesse Nurmi and the game sat 3-3 at the 6:34 mark of the final 20 minutes.
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The score stayed that way into the final two minutes of regulation when Sam O’Reilly and Evan Van Gorp crossed the Frontenacs blue line on a two-on-one. O’Reilly fed Van Gorp and he ripped a shot over Vaccari to make it 4-3 London with 1:50 to go.
A faceoff win by Kingston led to the game-tying goal with 29.4 seconds left in regulation as Uronen wired home his second of the night on a wrist shot from the top of the left circle and the teams rolled into an overtime that saw chances at both ends but no goals.
Denver Barkey and Jacob Julien scored in the shootout and Elliott stopped two of the three shots he faced to secure the win for the Knights.
Elliott came up huge in the game as he faced 40 shots and improved to a perfect 10-0 in a London uniform.
The Frontenacs outshot the Knights 40-22.
London was 1-for-4 on the power play.
Kingston was 1-for-5 on the man advantage.
Mailloux making his mark
Former Knights defenceman Logan Mailloux sits second in points per game among American Hockey League defenceman through a month and a half of the regular season. Mailloux has five goals and 14 points in 13 games with the Laval Rocket and has also appeared in five games so far this year in the National Hockey league with the Montreal Canadiens and has a goal and two assists in those games. Mailloux was Montreal’s first round pick in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft and played two full seasons in the OHL for London (one injury shortened) from 2021 to 2023. Mailloux also starred with the London Nationals in 2019-20 when he was named GOJHL Rookie of the Year, Top prospect, Top First-year Defenceman and a GOJHL All-Star.
Up next
The Knights will finish their eastern road trip on Sunday, Dec. 1 against the 67’s in Ottawa, Ont.
The game will take place one week after London edged the 7’s 2-1 in a shootout at Canada Life Place.
The last five games between the teams have all gone beyond regulation time. One has gone to overtime and four have ended in a shootout and the Knights have won all of them.
London has actually beaten Ottawa in eight consecutive games.
Coverage will begin at 1:30 p.m. on 980 CFPL, at http://www.980cfpl.ca and on the iHeart Radio and Radioplayer Canada apps.
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